In the medical fields of obstetrics and gynecology medical doctors typically employ an examination table in order to place a patient in a comfortable position when performing a medical examination or procedure. An example where examination is best performed in a supine or lithotomy position is in the performance of a gynecological, urological, and proctologic examination.
Examination tables in these fields typically have footrests protractible from the examination table. A common type of footrest coupled to an examination table is known as the stirrup style footrest. The stirrup footrest allows a patient positionably lying on the examination table to rest their feet against the support of the footrest. For example, a woman positionably lying supine in the dorsal lithotomy position on the examination table would rest both of her feet against the two stirrups with bent knees during a Pap smear or other procedure. A problem with the typical stirrup footrest type support is that it can be uncomfortable when a patient positions their feet against the stirrup footrest for an extended period of time. A Pap smear or annual gynecologic exam may take approximately five to twenty-five minutes which can be a long time to hold your feet in a particular position. Other procedures can take longer amounts of time.
Office-based medical procedures further allow doctors to employ the use of such tables for minor surgery in an office setting such as Endometrial Ablation, LEEPs, Cystoscopy, Colposcopy, Cosmetic Vulvar Surgery, leg surgeries, ultrasound, lithotomies, fracture repairs, and so forth. Specifically, the current examination tables limit the ability for a doctor to execute prolonged medical procedures. Also the current examination tables do not provide a comfortable boot style footrest that may be used with a variety of examination tables. More specifically, the examination tables in medical offices are typically not configured to provide foot and leg support for a person lying with their feet held against the stirrups for a prolonged period of time.
Various devices are taught in the prior art for supporting the leg of a patient during surgical procedures. Illustrative of such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,709; U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,277; U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,571; U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,355; U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,516; U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,133; U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,827 and U.S. Publication No. 2009/0235457 A1.
The Harvey Stirrups™ and the Allen® Stirrups are currently the more common stirrups used in conjunction with examination tables today. However, the existing boot style stirrups currently found in medical offices are lacking portability, adjustability, comfort, and are relatively expensive. Some current stirrups need to be permanently attached to an exam table effectively destroying portability and requiring an additional set of stirrups for each examination table. For instance a gynecologic exam table may cost about $1000 and conventional stirrups may cost $2000-$6000 in current dollars. Further, once the conventional stirrups are attached to an examination table a patient must employ them if they are to use the footrests. Therefore there exists a need for a boot style stirrup footrest that can quickly and easily be attached to existing examination tables when stirrups are needed, moved from table to table, or stored when not in use.
What is needed is a portable and adjustable device that will not move inadvertently during medical procedures.